When a natural disaster strikes, we often think of children as the most vulnerable of victims. Picture families forced to evacuate during a wildfire, or kids forced to take remote classes for months during the pandemic. 

A University of Colorado researcher says this thinking may be too simplistic – that it overlooks the ways children help out during and after a disaster, and the importance of letting kids help respond to a chaotic world. 

Lori Peek is a sociology professor and director of the Natural Hazards Center at CU Boulder. She studies how communities respond to natural disasters, and she's particularly focused on how children help out.  

She’s giving a talk on the topic Wednesday in Boulder. Ahead of that, she spoke with Erin O’Toole about her research.  

If you enjoyed this interview, check out our previous In The NoCo conversation with Lori about how surviving a wildfire can make a community more resilient. 

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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Colorado has been a magnet for businesses over the past two decades. In the past seven years, the state attracted dozens of companies and more than 40,000 jobs, according to the governor’s office.   

But that trend appears to be shifting.   

Nearly a hundred companies are thinking about leaving Colorado – or have already done so. That’s according to a recent report from the Colorado Chamber Foundation.   

And earlier this month, a group of business and tech leaders signed an open letter to Gov. Jared Polis and other state officials.  

The letter warned that Colorado’s business climate is heading in the wrong direction. They pointed to too many regulations on businesses – and especially companies that use AI to do things like set prices.  

Axios Denver reporter John Frank recently wrote about what’s driving the departures. He joined Erin O’Toole to discuss the details, and what business leaders think might help reverse the trend.   

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Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Colorado author Collin Irish writes science fiction and fantasy. And while his new book includes imaginative storylines set in space, its inspiration came from a more personal place: Collin’s writing drew from his work as a volunteer youth mentor.   

Collin works with some young men to help them better understand themselves through the use of storytelling and fairy tales. It’s part of a program based in Boulder called Rocky Mountain Rites . 

His new novel Messenger grew out of that mentoring work. It blends fairy tale, fantasy, and science fiction to explore the challenges of growing up in a modern world filled with uncertainty.   

Collin, who lives in Lakewood, spoke with Erin O’Toole about how his experience as a mentor shaped Messenger, and his approach to writing. 

Read an excerpt from Messenger that appeared in the Colorado Sun. 

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Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Just days after the Artemis II astronauts returned to Earth, we’ve got a different lunar exploration story today – one that hasn’t gotten as much attention.    

Scientists have known for years that the moon holds traces of water. That water could be invaluable for future space exploration, as ingredients for rocket fuel, or perhaps by providing water for a colony on the moon one day.  

But exactly where that water is remains something of a mystery.   

A new study led by University of Colorado researchers is helping to solve part of that mystery, by pinpointing where frozen water might be.   

Paul Hayne is a planetary scientist at CU Boulder's Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics. He’s part of the research team, which published their findings earlier this month in the journal Nature Astronomy.   

Paul joined Erin O'Toole to help explain what we know about the moon’s hidden water, how his work ties into NASA’s Artemis program, and how the research might one day help establish a base on the moon.  

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

For centuries, the Arapaho have called Colorado and Wyoming home. The tribe gave names to places like the Kawuneeche Valley, the Never Summer Mountains, and Mount Blue Sky.   

But the language the Arapaho have spoken for centuries is at risk of disappearing, as fewer members of the tribe have learned the language.  

A team of language experts at the University of Colorado Boulder is working to change that. They’re compiling an online database that includes recordings of the Arapaho language and can be used as a learning and teaching tool.  

Andrew Cowell is a linguistics professor at CU, and faculty director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous studies. He helped launch this project more than two decades ago.   

He spoke with Erin O’Toole in January  about how he hopes the digital database helps future generations learn and continue to speak the Arapaho language.  We’re listening back to that conversation today. 

You can access the Arapaho Language Project here. 

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Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

It’s been a tough winter for skiers and snowboarders in Colorado. And that’s also rippling through the local economy of nearby resort towns.  

Workers in bars and restaurants, backcountry gear shops, and hotels that depend on busy ski seasons are feeling the pinch. Many businesses are coping by cutting employee hours, not hiring some seasonal workers, or cutting back on overall spending.  

Journalist Steve Knopper wrote in 5280 Magazine about the economic ripple effects this low-snow season is creating beyond the ski resorts. His article is a snapshot of how a historically dry year is affecting the lives of the people who live and work in Colorado’s mountain towns.  

Steve talked with Erin O'Toole about what he learned, and why he wanted to write this particular story now.    

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

A position on the ski patrol at a Colorado resort is a dream job for many people – even in a dry winter like this one. They get paid to spend their days on some of the best terrain in the U.S. And they help thousands of skiers and snowboarders have a great time in the High Country.
 
But that work can also take a toll. Aside from the physical demands of skiing as a full-time job, there are downright traumatic moments -- like when a patrol team responds to a skier who's badly injured or gone missing. 
 
Winter Park's ski patrol set out in recent years to make sure its patrol members are properly equipped to handle the toughest incidents. Working with a nonprofit called Responder Alliance, they got their patrol team talking about stress and resilience. The story was featured in a recent Colorado Sun article. 

Zachary Akselrad is in his 16th season as a ski patrol employee, and he's assistant director of Winter Park’s ski patrol. He talked with In The NoCo’s Brad Turner in January about how the new approach has made the patrol team better. As a particularly tough ski season winds down in Colorado, we’re listening back to that conversation today. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Creede is a small, former silver mining town in the heart of a canyon in the San Juan mountains. It has about 300 full-time residents. Just about everywhere you look, you see reminders of the area's mining heritage – including the abandoned mines that surround the town. 

One thing sets Creede apart from other mining towns in Colorado: It has a thriving local theater scene.  

In the 1960s, as the silver mining industry began to die out, The Creede Repertory Theatre opened with a handful of theater students. Sixty years later – there's still some tension between the free-spirited thespians who visit each summer, and the locals who work as ranchers or outfitters.    

 Yet, somehow, they coexist. That dynamic – and how everyone gets along with one another – drew filmmakers Kahane Corn Cooperman and Innbo Shim to make the new documentary Creede, USA. 

The film will be screened this Saturday as part of Colorado State University's ACT Human Rights Film Festival in Fort Collins.  Ahead of the film festival’s opening, Kahane and Innbo joined Erin O’Toole to talk about the film, and what they think other communities could learn from Creede about civility and kindness. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

For people in much of the world, snakebite is a life-threatening condition. 
 

We don't think about it much in Colorado — though it may be more top of mind this spring, since the warm winter is prompting rattlesnakes to emerge from their dens a little earlier than usual. Here, a nasty rattlesnake bite might send the occasional hiker to the emergency room. 
 

But the World Health Organization estimates that, around the globe, as many as 138,000 people die from venomous snakebites each year.  And while antivenom can be used to treat snakebite, it’s often costly and difficult to produce. 

An expert at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley hopes to change that.  

Biology professor Stephen Mackessy is part of an international team that recently announced a breakthrough in the production of antivenom. The new technology could save lives by making antivenom cheaper to manufacture — and available in larger quantities.  

Mackessy and his team recently published their findings in the journal Nature. He spoke with Erin O’Toole in November about the important research happening at his lab in Greeley that led to the breakthrough. We’re listening back to that conversation today. 

If you enjoyed this interview, check out this In The NoCo conversation with the retiring director of the Rocky Mountain Poison Center, whose work helped develop a better antivenom to treat rattlesnake bites. 

 
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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Just a note - today's episode touches on themes of depression and suicide. 

Ten years ago, Colorado writer Becky Jensen’s life seemed great. She was raising two sons and engaged to be married. Yet, she was struggling quietly with depression and thoughts of suicide – although she didn't know why.  

Hoping to find clarity, Becky decided to take a bold step: She shouldered a backpack and set out to hike all 500 miles of the Colorado Trail on her own. Along the way, she confronted dangers in the wilderness – and her own feelings of low self-worth and repressed trauma.  

What began for her as an escape turned into a journey toward healing and, ultimately, a newly published memoir called No Man’s Land: Unpacking One Woman’s Worth on the Colorado Trail.  

Becky joined Erin O'Toole to talk about her experience, and what led to her taking this unusual step toward self-discovery. 

Becky will present a book talk and slide show at Wolverine Farm Publick House in Fort Collins on Thursday, April 9. And she’ll join Colorado Trail legend David Fanning at Old Firehouse Books (Fort Collins) for conversation on May 14. Find more upcoming author events at her website. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.